MORGANTOWN — She has become the immovable object in women’s college hoops, that being Iowa State junior center Audi Crooks.
Her scoring ability has even caught the eye of ESPN’s Pat McAfee, who created his own hype song for the Cyclones’ scoring machine.
Yet, somehow, the WVU women’s basketball team has found a way to survive monster games from Crooks in the past and still come out on top. The Mountaineers (13-3, 3-1 Big 12) will try to keep that streak going at 3 p.m. Sunday, when they visit the 11th-ranked Cyclones (14-2, 2-2) inside Hilton Coliseum.
Here’s the stats: Iowa State’s 6-3 center is averaging 28.7 points per game this season. That leads the nation, and it’s not even that close. In three past games against WVU during her freshman and sophomore seasons, Crooks is averaging 23.3 points and 13.3 rebounds per game, but the Mountaineers are 2-1 in those matchups.
As for this season, Mark Kellogg and his Mountaineers are looking to rebound in a big way following Wednesday’s 71-66 loss against No. 17 Texas Tech, a loss that knocked them out of first place in the Big 12 standings in the early portion of the season.
To that note, Iowa State is also looking for some kind of positive momentum. The Cyclones are on a two-game losing skid with losses against Cincinnati and Baylor.
Crooks’ stats from those games: A combined 49 points and 20 rebounds, but she was held scoreless in the fourth quarter in the 72-70 loss against Baylor, which defended her by constantly double-teaming her, even when she didn’t have the ball.
“Obviously they made it hard to get Audi the ball,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said after the game. “At the end of the day, it’s hard to beat a really good team playing two against five, and that’s basically what it came down to today.”
Crooks has scored at least 20 points in 14 of Iowa State’s 16 games so far. She had 19 and 18 points in the two games she fell short. She’s also had six games with at least 30 points and dropped 47 in 33 minutes of action against Indiana on Nov. 30.
In trying to slow her down, Kellogg’s strategy will likely be to speed her and the rest of Crooks’ teammates up with WVU’s full-court pressure. WVU may not constantly double-team Crooks as Baylor did, but might not have to if the Mountaineers can force enough turnovers before Iowa State can even look to get the ball inside.
West Virginia has forced 22-plus turnovers and 12-plus steals in nine games this season. WVU ranks 19th in the nation with a +7.6 turnover margin and is holding opponents to just 57.2 points per game.
As far as scoring goes, WVU guard Gia Cooke is 10th in the conference in scoring at 15.9 points per game, but was held to just six points against Texas Tech on 2 of 9 shooting.
Senior guard Sydney Shaw (13.3) and Jordan Harrison (12.1) are also averaging double figures this season. Shaw is second in the conference in 3-pointers per game (2.8) and is third in percentage at 41.3% from beyond the arc. Harrison, who scored her 1,000th-career point at West Virginia earlier this season, has amassed 1,491 career points, just nine points away from 1,500 in her career. Her five assists per game are the 10th most in the conference.
